Drug info - How Does LSD Expand Consciousness?

[metaljuana]

What does LSD do to the brain to give LSD's famous mind expanding effect? Does it give certain areas of the brain enzymes or something to make it work faster? I have been wondering for some time now, and am just wondering if anyone here may possibly know.

[TheBadMan]

It depends what you mean. I do not think that "consciousness expansion" is a particularly meaningful term. I think that it refers to the expanded content of one's thoughts while under the influence of psychedelic drugs, which is the result of more flee flowing and creative association between ideas. I do not think that whatever makes up or contributes to consciousness is actually expanded in any way. I do not think that the term "consciousness expansion" works well in acting as a metaphor for psychedelic drug action. I kind of dislike the term because I think it is pretentious. An equivalent but less idealistic term might be "rambling consciousness."

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

Originally Posted by metaljuana

What does LSD do to the brain to give LSD's famous mind expanding effect? Does it give certain areas of the brain enzymes or something to make it work faster? I have been wondering for some time now, and am just wondering if anyone here may possibly know.

No one really knows how consciousness is created from the brain so no one really knows how LSD affects consciousness at the biological/molecular level you are talking about. Sure, they have a pretty good idea of what LSD does to the brain, but that doesn't really tell you much if you don't understand how the brain creates consciousness.

They know, for example, that by attaching electrodes to people's heads and watching which areas light up when they do something creative or something sad, which "areas" of the brain roughly relate to different emotions/feelings/aspects of consciousness and so they can tell that because LSD works on the pre-frontal cortex, the area associated with abstract reasoning and creativity, that LSD affects these things.

Neuroscience is very speculative and works on many assumptions.

Reputation Comments on this post:

well done putting emphasis on how much we don't know

[Desertfox]

Read The Invisible Landscape by Terence & Dennis Mckenna. No book has taught SWIM more about drug interaction and how psychedelics work in the human ape body, especially how the psychedelics intercalate with our DNA which may sound creepy at first but is truly fascinating once you start grasping what these molecules are doing. The molecules sort of get locked in a harmony through their Electron Spin Resonances, magnetic and sound waves, this catalyzes a mechanism that reads our DNA, and giving us a visual light show of information appearing before our eyes. Our consciousness may be simply the interaction of the magnetic vacuums inside the particles inside our heads, and the frequency the psychedelics hit is just so that we get the 'altered perception' by altering with the magnetic interactions in the cerebral cortex. Keep in mind this is just a n idea, maybe one day it will be accepted and experiments performed that confirm it. It is already confirmed that electric pulses can affect consciousness as stated by the post above, but as also stated much of neuroscience is speculative and only today is the technology starting to become available to us to test the many ideas floating around out there. Psychedelics cause the cells in the visual cortex to get excited and cause the classic psychedelic visuals we've come to know and love, and drugs like alcohol and barbituates 'De-excite' these same cells counteracting any visual one may otherwise receive.

ADVISORY: Science hasn't researched this idea, and has not been experimentally reproduced. This idea was developed after psychedelic research was made criminal, and governments have sought no interest in funding research into the field. so yeah don't believe this as fact, just interesting to think about at this point in time.

Reputation Comments on this post:

You are full of nonsense. The stuff about ESR and DNA intercalation with DNA is NONSENSE!

[TheBadMan]

Originally Posted by Desertfox

especially how the psychedelics intercalate with our DNA which may sound creepy

LOL. I would love to hear about this. Intercalating DNA is usually how mutagens and teratogens start. Honestly, I really hope that this is not true. If you can genuinely point to some evidence of this, then I would appreciate it.

The molecules sort of get locked in a harmony through their Electron Spin Resonances, magnetic and sound waves, this sends the psychedelics cascading down our DNA,

This sounds like McKenna's wacky BS. I hope you realize that this could just be baloney (and probably is).

but as also stated much of neuroscience is speculative

Well, first of all, McKenna's BS is not a "theory", but sounds more like a "poorly thought up hypothesis." Sorry, but I think McKenna truly was a crackpot and his ideas are just ridiculous. His ramblings irritate the hell out of me because they are just so bloody stupid.
Neuroscience is speculative and is built on assumptions but is built on just as many assumptions as any other science and, most importantly, WORKS just like any other science. If you read the current literature of neuroscience, I think you'd see that largely the problem of how consciousness emerges is not even address as a whole, but that smaller pieces are being chipped away at. If you do read the literature, you will also see where this science works versus something McKenna's magical baloney. While I do think that it is important to criticize any science which might be able to address a problem you are interested in, I also think that just criticizing the best approach and offering no alternative leaves a vacuum of ignorance. So, go ahead an point out the problems with neuroscience, but don't pretend like there is a better way to understand because unfortunately there isn't and I don't think believing in stuff like Leary's 8 circuit model is an advance of any kind (Leary was a goof in SWIM's book too).

Reputation Comments on this post:

for not thinking LSD is a mutagen

[Lou1024]

In swims opinion, it simply brings your level of awareness to the present moment. All those thoughts you have when you zone out are now present and ready to be analyzed to the fullest extent.

[Desertfox]

BadMan, you sound as if you're inferring you have a breadth of knowledge of nueroscience, can you offer any alternative theories that you care to share or elaborate on that help to explain the phenomenal mystery that is the psychedelic experience, or do you only offer unconstrucive opinions and critiques that are not justified. Science is very helpful in explaining the external world as well as the world of the mind, but i'm not aware of any of mckenna's or leary's outloooks that have been disproven by science.
If you know any please share, as swim is interested to hear.

[TheBadMan]

Originally Posted by Desertfox

or do you only offer unconstrucive opinions and critiques that are not justified.

You should always be able to back up any claim you make. I would also expect that whoever originally made the claim (that is, the one you may refer to, such as McKenna) would provide enough information to satisfy me that they tested their claim.
While everyone in science has the responsibility of criticizing and testing the hypotheses of their peers, that work of hypothesis testing also is shared with those initially making the claims. I am asking you to supply me with information. That is, I want to know why you think you know what you are saying is right, because a lot of it sounds like nonsense. If you can't provide more information or don't want to then just say so and we can agree to disagree.

I want to hear about intercalation and ESR.

You're the one who started with the implication that neuroscience is vacuous, so why not help me see your point of view by pointing me in the right direction? What would you point a skeptical scientist to if they were to say they doubted that you were right and would like you to help shed light on the situation? That's what I want. I hope you now understand why I have serious doubts. I don't believe everything that John Lilly ever wrote into a book.

[Synchronium]

Originally Posted by Desertfox

how the psychedelics intercalate with our DNA

Originally Posted by Desertfox

The molecules sort of get locked in a harmony through their Electron Spin Resonances, magnetic and sound waves, this sends the psychedelics cascading down our DNA, inside our neuronal cells, and giving us a visual light show of information appearing before our eyes. Our consciousness may be simply the interaction of the magnetic vacuums inside the particles inside our heads, and the frequency the psychedelics hit is just so that we get the 'altered perception' by altering with the magnetic interactions in the cerebral cortex.

100% Horse shit.

Drug action is all down to receptor theory. I'd link you to the Wikipedia article, but I can't post links yet. I suggest you check it out.

In no way would a psychedelic (a classification based on their effects, not chemical structure) intercalate with your DNA or whatever, just like no other drug does (unless of course we're talking about nuclear receptors for stuff like steroids where gene transcription is altered, but that's still far from what you suggest). The only thing "messing with your DNA" will accomplish is the up- or downregulation of the proteins it encodes - ie the same non-magical boring proteins that also don't interact with psychedelics in the way you suggest.

If I were a 5-HT receptor, I'd feel under appreciated. Receptor systems are powerful things, and hold the answers to everything, even if we don't know them all.

Points for speculating though. If no one had any ideas, right or wrong, we'd never get anywhere!

Reputation Comments on this post:

	thanks thats good information, further increasing my and everyone elses knowledge
	Very good point. Definitely shot down the DNA theory and proved how no one is sure about psychology.

[Desertfox]

What SWIM said in his posts does not exclude the role of receptors, its just an idea of what may be happening in order to explain the more strange experiences that have occurred to humans on psychedelics. And SWIM knows the word 'intercalate' has many technical connotations but swim used in because he lacked a better word to describe the action. SWIM was quickly paraphrasing Terence Mckenna's ideas, SWIM wasn't trying to recount the 200 some pages it takes to tell the whole process. Its been a long time since he's read the book and this was strictly from SWIM's memory

[cra$h]

it's like a microscope for your self. Youtube Tim Leary, he'll explain in greater depth. But people think of ways to improve their lives, and don't put it in practice. LSD allows you to take that step, and adapt to a better, more philosophical mindset. You learn things you've known all along, if that makes any sense.

[Jatelka]

You know what? LSD does NOT expand consciousness. Nothing expands consciousness other than ones (monkey) self.

LSD just removes logical boundaries, and enables peeps to whiffle

Monkeys have to accept that it aint the drugs, but themselves that change things

[Joe-(5-HTP)]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

You know what? LSD does NOT expand consciousness. Nothing expands consciousness other than ones (monkey) self.

LSD just removes logical boundaries, and enables peeps to whiffle

Monkeys have to accept that it aint the drugs, but themselves that change things

and yet what exactly is "I" ? Is a person prior to taking LSD the same "I" as it is after ingesting? I think yes in some ways but no in others. Bear with me...

Indubitably: LSD does not lead to a display, understanding or capability which was not there in the first place but the very act of bringing, or in some cases, forcing of these things to the surface is itself a capability which the person did not have prior to ingestion.

I think a person can be defined by what they choose to suppress and what they choose to let out. Certainly, if LSD causes these suppressed things to surface then they will probably change and everything that characterises their change will be a reflection of their character but nevertheless it is LSD which caused the uncharacteristic act: the act of releasing things which had previously been repressed, the removal of "logical boundaries" or whatever.

I think that while it is true that LSD does not put anything there that wasn't there already, I think that misses the point. What LSD does is change our personal balance between, perhaps our consciousness and our unconsciousness, perhaps between what we suppress and what we choose to release, vent, our own personal balance of happiness, sadness... Ultimately your mental balance between what you value as good and what you value as bad.

From this perspective, it easy to see that in the hands of a person who understands themselves and understands their own particular balance LSD can be used for consciousness expanding. Perhaps consciousness expansion is that existential concept of creating your own purpose, and perhaps understanding and even choosing/changing your mental balance. It is also easy to see how people who do not quite understand or even repress their understanding of themselves can be negatively affected by LSD.

Of course, perhaps it the mind is not about balance and perhaps, therefore, LSD has nothing to do with balance. who knows !

[Desertfox]

SWIM reiterates that he is not restating the theory correctly and was just from a faded memory of what was written in Terence's books. SWIM was just briefly stating some of the ideas, and if they interest you or you see something wrong with what SWIM said, see for yourself and please correct SWIM. SWIM agrees with Jatelka that ultimately the molecules are catalysts for the experiences, not the source, as some people think. and when swim said

Originally Posted by Desertfox

The intercalation of DNA does not happen with every psychedelic, but with a combination of MAOI, and DMT or psilocybin. SWIM has had experiences also with LSD that makes him think LSD is capable of a similar action by itself.

SWIM only was referring to the certain experience Terence Mckenna went through in La Chorrera, not the specific neuronal action of the drug that causes your 'normal' psychedelic trip. And swim was simply saying that based off a personal experience, he feels that LSD can make happen what happened to Terence on that fateful day, however that thing happens. Terence just tried his best to give a real world explanation to the phenomenon, please read into the experience more, and hopefully you'll understand what swim is saying.

[netineti]

Originally Posted by Jatelka

You know what? LSD does NOT expand consciousness. Nothing expands consciousness other than ones (monkey) self.

LSD just removes logical boundaries, and enables peeps to whiffle

Monkeys have to accept that it aint the drugs, but themselves that change things

indeed well said!

at the most, the fact that lsd alters ones surroundings and thought patterns to such extend that one is catapulted into completely unnkown territory and that ego just gives up with defining reality and dissolves into the true self. thats what happend to my best friend and how he saw the experience... the ego couldn't grasp anything and just bailed out . only silence and magnificent hallucinations were left... no thoughts, no nothing, but everything... just not explainable or graspable.

that's probably why the rumour goes that timothy leary never had a full lown ego death on acid... he knew this territory too well and his ego couldn't let go of understanding it... just swims hypothesis, maybe not...

[Synchronium]

Desertfox:

Everyone sees Terence Mckenna as some kind of scientific hero, but he is NOT a respected neuroscientist. No one who is would give any weight to his theories because they simply don't make sense.

Another drug that intercalates with your DNA is thalidomide. We all know what happened with that, right?

In all seriousness, read that book. You'll learn FAR more from reading and understanding a neuroscience/pharmacology text book than listening to some old man with nothing relevant to offer. This isn't learning in the boring sense of the word. I find this stuff fascinating - not only the current theories on how the brain works, but also understanding the elegant experiments that are used to prove these kind of things.

I think if you do read that book, you'll uncover a whole new appreciation for your brain and just what it's capable of doing. This kind of personal, contemplative journey will open up your mind far more than any drug.

[Desertfox]

Thanks for the suggestion Synchromium. SWIM will definately look into that book, right now he's in college so SWIM is quite busy reading his Org. Chem, Physic and math texts. When he has time, most likely this summer.
And in regards to Terence, SWIM wasn't trying to present his theories as science, or neuroscience for that matter, but simply saying that science does not hold in every avenue of life, and some things can be better understood from a philosophical stand-point(even though SWIM knows some would still want to argue with him that that is not true either), especially when you start trying to explain one of the last great mysteries of mankind, the psychedelic experience. Science can tell us and explain what happens to our brain when the drugs enter it, but once they're in it really is personal experience that can't be recreated and shown to other consciousness'. And the experience you have really depends what kind of person you are and what kind of experiences and memories you have had in life, and that's why psychedelics have such varying effects on different people, even though it may be effecting the brain similarly, those different people are having different experiences from others because of those people's differences in personality and psyche's and what they bring to the table. Maybe one day mankind can implant some sort of recording device in the mind that records what the user experiences, and psychedelic experiences may be able to be recorded and shown to others, or even the experience of death...but that's just SWIM using an active imagination, maybe then some SWimmers will understand what SWIM is talking about.
And correct SWIM if he's in the wrong, but science still can't tell for sure exactly what consciousness is. Sure it it has made attempts, but swim has never read a theory that tells me what a thought really is. Until we know exactly how it is we humans think, we will never really know anything. And this is partly why people's ideas, like Terence's will want to be called pseudoscientific, simply because what he was attempting to do was not currently in the avenues of science, he was exploring these new realms of mind and planting the seeds for future researchers to use the science to explain. Terence was, like all of us, a slave to time, and he was born years ahead of his time and wasn't legally allowed to research these kinds of things. Terence was doing his best at explaining a mystery of science, a mystery none of his peers or colleauges cared to research at the time. The real amazing thing is how he rediscovered a lost knowledge system of an old chinese time calendar, really through his insights given by psychedelic drug experiences alone. People never give him credit for this amazing feet.

Desertfox added 13 Minutes and 46 Seconds later...

Also SWIM wanted to ask what swimmers think about the psychedelic experience as being us experiencing our own DNA on a conscious level. The molecule allows our conscious to read parts of it, and then displays visual hallucinations that appear in space in front of our eyes. If DNA does hold our genetic memories of all past forms taken, and the genes of many species that are not expressed. For a short while we are given glimpses into those other forms our consciousness's once inhabited at some point in time(may be the origins of the belief or reincarnation, which many people believe they have enough evidence that it can be proven.) Most likely it is just our brains in an excited state producing these visuals from electrical impulses somewhere in our visual cortex causing our neurons to go into crazy intricate, fractal patterns, but SWIM wondered about this hypothesis that some philosophers/authors/doctors pose today(i.e. Dr. Rick Strassman, Graham Hancock).

[riaahacker]

I want to take a crack at this by some ideas I have been thinking of lately.

One of the receptors agonized by serotonergic psychedelics is 5-HT2A which is an excitatory serotonin receptor. Activation of this receptor is thought to cause an increase in neuronal activity.

Previously, serotonin (5-HT) was found to induce a marked increase in glutamatergic spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) in apical dendrites of layer V pyramidal cells of prefrontal cortex; this effect was mediated by 5-HT2A receptors, a proposed site of action of hallucinogenic and atypical antipsychotic drugs. Unexpectedly, although the effect of 5-HT was Ca2+-dependent and tetrodotoxin-sensitive, it did not appear to involve the activation of excitatory afferent impulse flow. This paradox prompted us to investigate (in rat brain slices) whether 5-HT was acting through an atypical mode of excitatory transmitter release. We found that the frequency of 5-HT-induced spontaneous EPSCs was fully supported by Sr2+ in the absence of added Ca2+, implicating the mechanism of asynchronous transmitter release which has been linked to the high-affinity Ca2+-sensor synaptotagmin III. Although the early, synchronous component of electrically evoked EPSCs was reduced while 5-HT was being applied, late, nonsynchronous components were enhanced during 5-HT washout and also by the 5-HT2 partial agonist 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl-2-aminopropane (DOI); the effect of DOI was blocked by a selective 5-HT2A antagonist (MDL 100,907). This late, nonsynchronous component was distinct from conventional polysynaptic EPSCs evoked in the presence of the GABAA antagonist bicuculline, but resembled asynchronous glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) evoked in the presence of Sr2+. An enhancement of asynchronous EPSCs by a specific neurotransmitter receptor has not been reported previously. The possible role of excessive asynchronous transmission in the cerebral cortex in mediating the hallucinogenic effects of 5-HT2A agonists such as DOI is discussed.

George K. Aghajanian* and Gerard J. Marek

This increase in asynchronous activity and excitation could explain the "out of the box" ideas and the flood of information a psychedelic tends to give the user. LSD is not like most psychedelics, its not very selective and hits a lot of receptors. It is known to bind to 5-HT1a, 5-HT2a, 5-HT2c, 5-HT5a, 5-HT5b, and 5-HT6 receptors, with little binding to 5-HT3 and 5-HT4 (thank goodness haha). LSD also seems to effect dopaminergic transmission and acts as a partial D2 agonist.

The hallucinogenic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) have mainly been attributed to the interaction of this drug with the serotoninergic system, but it seems more likely that they are the result of the complex interactions of the drug with both the serotoninergic and dopaminergic systems. The aim of the present study was to investigate the functional actions of LSD at dopaminergic receptors using prolactin secretion by primary cultures of rat pituitary cells as a model. LSD produced a dose-dependent inhibition of prolactin secretion in vitro with an IC50 at 1.7x10(-9) M. This action was antagonized by spiperone but not by SKF83566 or cyproheptadine, which indicates that LSD has a specific effect on D2 dopaminergic receptors. The maximum inhibition of prolactin secretion achieved by LSD was lower than that by dopamine (60% versus 80%). Moreover, the fact that LSD at 10(-8)-10(-6) M antagonized the inhibitory effect of dopamine (10(-7) M) and bromocriptine (10(-11) M) suggests that LSD acts as a partial agonist at D2 receptors on lactotrophs in vitro. Interestingly, LSD at 10(-13)-10(-10) M, the concentrations which are 10-1000-fold lower than those required to induce direct inhibition on pituitary prolactin secretion, potentiated the dopamine (10(-10)-2.5x10(-9) M)-mediated prolactin secretion by pituitary cells in vitro. These results suggest that LSD not only interacts with dopaminergic receptors but also has a unique capacity for modulating dopaminergic transmission. These findings may offer new insights into the hallucinogenic effect of LSD.

Giacomelli S, Palmery M, Romanelli L, Cheng CY, Silvestrini B
Institute of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy

My interpretation to all of this leads me to believe that the expansion of consciousness induced by LSD is the result of increased neuron firing and the perception of a flood of information. Asynchronous activity can also account for the ideas thought of during its duration.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Great participation in this debate
	Great psot, thnx for the references and info.

[10001110101]

honestly from a simpleton psychological perspective i think it's that it kind of puts your mind in a tumbler.

it puts the most negative critical thoughts right next to pure positivity and forward looking thoughts so that you have to resolve them simultaneously.

so you look at things completely honestly from at least two points of view simultaneously.

[BigPapaLarry]

Swim once heard an explantion that went something like this:

LSD expands conciousness by disabling natural filters in the brain. Seratonin travels from neuron to neuron in the brain, and could theoretically continue indefinitely, however, there are certain neaurons that stop the transfer of seratonin (when they recieve it, they do not pass it on). LSD is believed to possibly disable some of these "stop" receptors, allowing the chemicals to continue on further, thus opening doors to our sub-concious mind. In that way, our concious is "expanded" because certain aspects of our sub-concious mind become known to our concious mind. One theory that correlates with this "filter disable" idea would be the "trailer" or "tracer" effect of LSD. When on LSD, and one moves their arm, they can see the movement of their arm (any LSD user will be very familiar with this). In one second of motion, our brain can subliminally see 24 frames, however, our brain filters out what it believes to be "un-necessary", and the image is compressed into the two or three frames that we see in our "reality". Some believe that LSD allows several more of those frames to be known to our concious mind, and therefore our concious mind sees (for a short time) what our un-concious mind always sees. SWIM strongly believes in this theory, and has this to say to support it: When one looks at a CRT monitor (the old boxy computer monitors), it appears to be a solid image, however, when looking at it on LSD, it flashes aggressively (SWIM has never looked at an LCD screen on LSD, and therefore isnt sure about these). This also occurs when filming a computer screen. A camera records 24 frames per second, and when one reviews the film, the CRT monitor will flash aggressively throughout the recording.


These are only theories, there is verry little scientific fact about conciousness, and how LSD affects it, but SWIM hopes this helps, as this is what he believes.

[Desertfox]

Originally Posted by BigPapaLarry

Swim once heard an explantion that went something like this:

LSD expands conciousness by disabling natural filters in the brain. Seratonin travels from neuron to neuron in the brain, and could theoretically continue indefinitely, however, there are certain neaurons that stop the transfer of seratonin (when they recieve it, they do not pass it on). LSD is believed to possibly disable some of these "stop" receptors, allowing the chemicals to continue on further, thus opening doors to our sub-concious mind. In that way, our concious is "expanded" because certain aspects of our sub-concious mind become known to our concious mind. One theory that correlates with this "filter disable" idea would be the "trailer" or "tracer" effect of LSD. When on LSD, and one moves their arm, they can see the movement of their arm (any LSD user will be very familiar with this). In one second of motion, our brain can subliminally see 24 frames, however, our brain filters out what it believes to be "un-necessary", and the image is compressed into the two or three frames that we see in our "reality". Some believe that LSD allows several more of those frames to be known to our concious mind, and therefore our concious mind sees (for a short time) what our un-concious mind always sees. SWIM strongly believes in this theory, and has this to say to support it: When one looks at a CRT monitor (the old boxy computer monitors), it appears to be a solid image, however, when looking at it on LSD, it flashes aggressively (SWIM has never looked at an LCD screen on LSD, and therefore isnt sure about these). This also occurs when filming a computer screen. A camera records 24 frames per second, and when one reviews the film, the CRT monitor will flash aggressively throughout the recording.


These are only theories, there is verry little scientific fact about conciousness, and how LSD affects it, but SWIM hopes this helps, as this is what he believes.

But LSD is special, as with some other psychedelics, becuase it agonizes AND antagonizes the serotonin receptors. It not only stops serotonin from binding but it also encourages the binding of serotonin in certain cells, and is one of the many reasons understanding how LSD affects consciousness is such a complicated process

[BigPapaLarry]

Originally Posted by Desertfox

But LSD is special, as with some other psychedelics, becuase it agonizes AND antagonizes the serotonin receptors. It not only stops serotonin from binding but it also encourages the binding of serotonin in certain cells, and is one of the many reasons understanding how LSD affects consciousness is such a complicated process

This is also true. We may never know the full answer. Until we are given solid scientific facts on this issue (which we probably never will be, as scientists have yet to even define concious), all we can do is theorize and speculate with what we do know.

[VitaminK22]

Swim believes consciousness is made from the nervous system and sensory input - if we had no senses we wouldnt be conscious. LSD severely effects the nervous system by simulating chemicals in the brains receptors, thats why all senses are affected by LSD (sound/visual hellucinations, skin is more sensitive to touch and temperature, smells and tastes are more vibrant) thus causing our consciousness to be affected.
Although LSD affects our consciousness, Swim kinda agrees with jatelka in the sense that LSD does not expand consciousness, it just alters it a little and your brain compares the lsd consciousness with the normal, giving the illusion that you're more conscious and aware of the world around you.
Swim sees LSD as a drug that teaches you how to use you brain properly.

note: most of this is just what swim believes happens when he takes LSD, swim hasnt done much research into this yet

as for how consciousness works on a molecular level swim has next to no idea, neuroscience is too much of an unknown topic for swim, all swim knows is the brain is full of neurons which are connected together, electo-chemical pulses are sent from 1 neuron to another (loads of times) to create a through process

[Desertfox]

May swim suggest this title for SWI VitK22...
Farthing GW. The Psychology of Consciousness. Englewood
Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1992.

[Desertfox]

Does TheBadMan have anything to say about my last few posts? any response at all?


Read Chapter 5 of The Invisible Landscape, called Drug Action, where the scientific literature on the subject of brain chemistry, of the time, is given and refrences given for every bit of info. SWIM'll post some excerpts when he gets some time to get a PDF copy and tranfer to postable text, and upload it to the archive, if it fits that is.